GPS/Cellphone Routes

[napom]

NNJ - I wish it was that easy - but Google has disabled saving routes to iphone . . . unless you have found a way around it.

Got IFunBox - giving it a try

[NNJ]

I'll need to check on Google having disabled that... It must be recent. I'll also check that other app. I fully concede that if your in a less urban are than I without online access a smartphone prob won't cut it.

I'll be trying some new suggestions based on these posts.... Good info...

[jestephens]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

I seriously doubt you can import routes into an iPhone. It's not a full-featured GPS, like a Garmin.

If you buy a Zumo, why would you need the Nuvi?

CJ, I thought this too, but from what i've read, I think it could be. ??? I was always baffled by the people that said they used their phone as a GPS, because I know how often I lose signal on my iphone.
I noticed Garmin has an iPhone app for $50, which loads the maps in the phone memory. Supposedly, this is the difference between other GPS apps. The others still require the internet to load the map for where you are. The Garmin $50 price tag buys the map file to load on the device.

Would that solve the problem? Since my company sent us new phones, I have an iPhone4 with no service now (glorified iPod), would it work as a GPS if I purchased that Garmin app? - All this crap has Feature Overload anyhow.

[cactusjack]

I tried using my phone as a GPS once. It might work in town, but this was on the trip to Custer in 2009. I went hundreds of miles without a cell signal through Wyoming and northern AZ. The day after I got back home I ordered a Garmin.

[napom]

Since my Garmin is not a motorcycle specific Garmin, it can not connect to a BlueTooth headset and it is hard to see in bright light. I used it today loading in a route for a short 100 miler (direct route was around 60 miles) and was able to follow it by consistently leaning forward and checking when the next turn was - However, I could not hear it - between my hearing loss, the wind, the stereo, the pipes, I can't hear the Garmin - That's why I wanted an app for my I-phone to also load in the same route and have the turn by turn audio alerts through my audio system . . . Redundant systems - something I learned about back in my days in the Missile Fields of North Dakota . . . I will look into the Garmin i phone app and see - Sygic loads the maps on the device as well - but I have yet to be able to load an itinerary into it - It only has one file, labelled "Sygic"

[cactusjack]

I can't hear my Garmin, and it has no Bluetooth or headphone jack so I can't play it through my stereo or helmet speakers. But I can read the screen just fine.

[Peg]

Originally Posted by napom

...but I have yet to be able to load an itinerary into it - It only has one file, labelled "Sygic"

"Sygic" file, not folder? If it's a folder have you opened it to see what's inside? There should be one in there called "Res", and then another folder inside "Res", called "Itinerary".

That's what I like about Sygic... All the maps entire and complete on the phone without requiring any access to data at all - simply a view of the GPS satellites (and there are other apps available to fine-tune reception of those). There might be a Garmin app that does the same, but I have no experience with it.

[napom]

Yes - it has one folder labeled "Sygic" It shows a "+" next to it, but when I open it there is nothing else visible in there . . . I'm still working and playing with it, because it looks like it could work - Its got me closer than any other one has . . . .

[napom]

I GOT IT!!!!!!

Mapquest works - Here is the way I got it running now:

GPS: Garmin 1490LMT mounted to the bars in a water proof mount

Phone: iPhone 5 -Running the Mapquest APP

Go to Mapquest.com and plan out your route. When you drag the route to customize it, change the waypoint (little circles) to Route Stops (Lettered Drops). Send the route to the GPS. Import the route to the GPS and then you can choose the route from the routes on the GPS. Then Send it to the iPhone.

The key is changing the waypoints to stops - without doing this, the only thing sent to both the phone and the GPS is the start and end point.

I tried this on a 100 mile route yesterday . . . there were slight differences between the two along the ways in between the stops - most of these I noticed were because I had the GPS set to avoid highways and the phone I did not have it set for that. Once they both were set the same, the differences were few and far between.

It was great riding and listening to the tunes on my iPhone through the audio system and getting the turn by turn directions cutting in on the audio system.

Heading to Maine on Thursday - we'll see for sure how this works out . . . Still messing with the Sygic and I hope I get that working too.

[Monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Farmer522

I just ride, thats the fun part of it

That IS part of the fun but I lead the occasional ride and it's easier to load an entire route into my GPS to follow rather than continue to look at a piece of paper (that will probably blow away. The ride leader today wrote down all 22 turns on a piece of paper. No way I could follow all that. (I was neither lead nor sweep so I was good.)

I use the "Go Home" feature a lot. I'll ride "that way" (whichever way "that way" happens to be) then, when I feel like going home, I hit the button and follow the directions.

[Sin City Stan]

Originally Posted by napom

I GOT IT!!!!!!

Mapquest works - Here is the way I got it running now:

GPS: Garmin 1490LMT mounted to the bars in a water proof mount

Phone: iPhone 5 -Running the Mapquest APP

Go to Mapquest.com and plan out your route. When you drag the route to customize it, change the waypoint (little circles) to Route Stops (Lettered Drops). Send the route to the GPS. Import the route to the GPS and then you can choose the route from the routes on the GPS. Then Send it to the iPhone.

The key is changing the waypoints to stops - without doing this, the only thing sent to both the phone and the GPS is the start and end point.

I tried this on a 100 mile route yesterday . . . there were slight differences between the two along the ways in between the stops - most of these I noticed were because I had the GPS set to avoid highways and the phone I did not have it set for that. Once they both were set the same, the differences were few and far between.

It was great riding and listening to the tunes on my iPhone through the audio system and getting the turn by turn directions cutting in on the audio system.

Heading to Maine on Thursday - we'll see for sure how this works out . . . Still messing with the Sygic and I hope I get that working too.

Looks like I got here late but yes I used Mapquest in this manner when travelling to the National Rally. Worked great. I also connected to Mapquest at the last gas stop before we stopped for the night and had turn by turn directions via Bluetooth to the motel.

[jestephens]

Originally Posted by Peg

"Sygic" file, not folder? If it's a folder have you opened it to see what's inside? There should be one in there called "Res", and then another folder inside "Res", called "Itinerary".

That's what I like about Sygic... All the maps entire and complete on the phone without requiring any access to data at all - simply a view of the GPS satellites (and there are other apps available to fine-tune reception of those). There might be a Garmin app that does the same, but I have no experience with it.

I think you said it clearly, but I want to make sure. If I have an app with the maps loaded on the phone (e.g. the Garmin app), it wouldn't need to use data to re-purpose an old iphone4 as my GPS/mp3 player?? Currently, that phone is a baby-monitor/mp3 player

[Peg]

Originally Posted by jestephens

I think you said it clearly, but I want to make sure. If I have an app with the maps loaded on the phone (e.g. the Garmin app), it wouldn't need to use data to re-purpose an old iphone4 as my GPS/mp3 player?? Currently, that phone is a baby-monitor/mp3 player

I'm pretty sure that's correct Jay... No data required when you have the Sygic app (I'm assuming Garmin is similar), since the whole map is loaded entirely on the phone. They use only GPS satellites for positioning, though I'd imagine the A-GPS feature for a faster position lock might require some data?

I have only very little data (50mb per month) on my cheapo plan, and started out looking for something using little or none. That ruled out Google Maps or Google Nav completely, and anyway - all the best back-road riding down here is well away from cell coverage, and mobile broadband coverage is a joke unless you're in a big city.

I have no experience with an iphone4 - but the processor should be fast enough to run a navigation app.